| ISBN |
9780992527648 (pbk.) |
| 0992527643 (pbk.) |
| Name |
Eales, Jane author. |
| Title |
Secrets, spies & spotted dogs / Jane Eales. |
| Edition |
Second edition |
| Published |
[Mosman, New South Wales] Middle Harbour Press, 2016. |
| ©2014 |
| Description |
xi, 291 pages : illustrations : map, portraits, genealogical tables ; 23 cm. |
| Notes |
"First published 2014"--Colophon. |
| Includes bibliographical references (page 286-288, page [292]) |
| Summary |
A simple need for her birth certificate leads Jane, aged 19, to a devastating secret: she is adopted. Stunned, Jane is sworn to secrecy and forbidden to search for her biological family - a promise she honours until her adoptive parents die. A heart-wrenching family crisis and a longing to know her origins leads Jane into a life-changing quest to research her roots in Rhodesia, Johannesburg, London, Berlin and Sydney. Born in London in 1947 and adopted by a German Jewish family she starts her search by retracing her childhood and the lives of her adoptive parents before and during WWII. Then, later, after meeting with her birth family in London, she learns her mother, Phyllis, was an elegant, well-educated exuberant woman, and yet she abandoned her firstborn son at 8 weeks. Why? As snippets of Phyllis's extraordinary wartime career emerge, Jane discovers Phyllis volunteered for the British Army, and was a member of FANY (First Aid Nursing Yeomanry), one of the units used to recruit women for espionage. She lived in Ashby Castle near Bletchley Park while driving a 27 Humber in the Women's Transport Service. In September 1944, Phyllis was sent by the Dutch to Arnhem to spy on the Germans. How could this possibly be true? At times reminiscent of Honeysuckle Weeks's role in Foyle's War, the much loved British TV serial, this true story interweaves the raw emotion of adoptee discovery, the heart-pounding threads of WWII espionage and a poignant search for truth and identity. |
| Awards note |
Winner in the autobiography/biography category of the 2015 Next Generation Indie Book Awards (New York). |
| Subjects |
Eales, Jane |
| Adoption |
| Families |
| Family secrets -- South Africa |
| Adopted children -- Biography |
| World War, 1939-1945 -- History |
| Arnhem, Battle of Arnhem, Netherlands, 1944 |
| Spies |
| Links to Related Works |
Subject References:
See Also:
Narrower Subject References:
Authors:
|
|---|
